411% Revenue Surge Won’t Halt Borrowing – FIRS Boss

FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji

The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, has said that the Federal Government will continue to borrow despite recording a significant rise in revenue collection.

Speaking on Tuesday during the Meet-the-Press session organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Villa, Abuja, Adedeji explained that borrowing remains a deliberate part of Nigeria’s economic framework and not a sign of weakness.

According to him, federal revenue hit N3.64tn in September 2025, a 411% increase compared to N711bn in May 2023. He argued that borrowing, as approved by the National Assembly, is factored into the budget and essential for long-term development.

“Borrowing is not a problem. Every budget has three components—expenditure, revenue, and loans. If my budget is N100,000 and I generate N90,000 as revenue, borrowing N10,000 according to plan should not be an issue,” Adedeji said.

His comments follow President Bola Tinubu’s July request for a $21.5bn external loan, including a $2bn foreign currency bond and a N757.98bn bond to offset pension liabilities under the Contributory Pension Scheme. Just weeks earlier, Tinubu had announced that Nigeria had already met its 2025 revenue target, raising public debate over continued borrowing.

Adedeji defended the policy, insisting that loans are used for long-term investments rather than recurrent expenses. He likened the practice to the “Matchy Concept” in business, where projects benefiting future generations are partly financed through borrowing to spread costs across time.

He further dismissed critics whom he described as “container economists” for misrepresenting borrowing as fiscal recklessness, stressing that banks, governments, and businesses globally depend on credit to sustain growth.

The FIRS boss also highlighted reforms that have boosted collections, particularly from non-oil sources. Non-oil revenue grew to N1.06tn in September 2025, up from N151bn in 2023, while oil receipts hit N644bn. Value Added Tax (VAT) collections rose more than threefold to N723bn.

Adedeji attributed the gains to tax reforms that streamlined levies, eased burdens on small businesses, and cut unnecessary incentives. He noted that upcoming measures including a new fiscal framework, harmonised subnational taxes, a presumptive regime for hard-to-tax groups, and lower corporate tax rates would further expand the tax net and deepen compliance.